Dual POV
Mara
I didn’t message him the next day.112Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡETOohZbR7d
I didn’t need to.
Instead, I opened my music app and created a playlist.112Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnFVeBKdCVE
Just three songs.112Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxPgyHbmoG0
One about missing someone I never had.112Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGOqdOPNPcj
One about learning how to breathe again.112Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8YJWUYjYzx
And one—soft and wordless—that made me think of him sitting across from me in the rain.
I named it “For When You’re Not Sure.”
No text. No explanation. Just a link I dropped in his inbox that night.
Ten minutes later, a message appeared:
“That third track wrecked me. Here’s mine.”
His playlist was called “If I Said Too Much.”112Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9HtTJTeoUG
And it did.112Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa37krsLma1
The second song was a love letter, the third sounded like goodbye, and the fifth…112Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxElxnfcUu4
The fifth was mine. The one I hummed through the window.112Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvmHIDKykzg
Except this time, it was a cover—with lyrics.
That’s when I realized:112Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgAMUfdcyn0
He’d heard me long before he met me.112Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj0rC7BElh4
And maybe… he’d felt something, too.
Eli
I’ve always found it easier to say things through music.112Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs1tAtVvfAw
Words can lie. Songs don’t.
When she sent that playlist, it felt like a door opened.112Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA8y1trGhEI
Not wide. Just enough.
So I sent mine back, every track carefully chosen.112Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxFIcydyYp2
No fluff. No random filler. Just the truth I couldn’t voice yet.
She didn’t reply for hours.112Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuUuXfFy3sq
When she finally did, it was just:
“I don’t know what this is yet. But I want to find out.”
That was it.
And somehow, it was more honest than any three-page confession could’ve been.
So we kept exchanging playlists—112Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn8DRY9C8WG
One every night.
No pressure. No labels.112Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡznGdXGxkPE
Just music.
And in that quiet rhythm, we found something neither of us was ready to name.
Not yet.112Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2NeXLgHtz6
But soon.
